Italian ports cannot be considered safe because of the coronavirus epidemic and will not let migrant boats operated by charities dock, the government has ruled. The decision was taken late on Tuesday after a ship operated by the German non-governmental group Sea-Eye picked up some 150 people off Libya and headed towards Italy. Source Reuters
Taiwan said on Monday its armed forces have the right to self-defence and counterattack amid “harassment and threats”, in an apparent warning to China, which last week sent numerous jets across the mid-line of the sensitive Taiwan Strait. Source Reuters
People have begun arriving at a military barracks in Kent which is being used to house migrants.
The first of up to 400 asylum seekers were seen at Napier Barracks in Folkestone on Monday evening.
The arrivals are understood to be migrants who crossed the Channel aboard small boats.
The Home Office is using the space as “contingency accommodation”, but Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins said the arrangement needed clarifying. Source BBC
Madrid’s regional government chief requested the army’s help on Monday in fighting the coronavirus surge in the Spanish capital where local authorities ordered a partial lockdown of some poorer districts, prompting protests. Source Reuters
